Commonwealth Merchant Mariners lost in US ships

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by Adam Brown, Dec 12, 2014.

  1. Adam Brown

    Adam Brown Member

    I don't know if there is an existing thread about this on the forum, I can't find one, but has anyone looked into the problem of the non-commemoration of Commonwealth merchant seamen who died on Panamanian registered & US owned ships during the Second World War? I have been looking into those lost on the SS Raceland in particular.

    If there's a more appropriate place to post this query I'll add more details on that thread. If not I'll post what I know of the missing men of the Raceland here.

    Thanks

    Adam
     
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  2. Hugh MacLean

    Hugh MacLean Senior Member

    Hello and welcome Adam.
    I am interested in any non-commemorated merchant seaman. Do you have the names of the seamen you are researching?

    I know Billy McGee is working on a project regarding all British non-commemorated merchant seamen.

    Jos Odijk is a particular expert on RACELAND and Chris Harley on here also deals with non-commemorated personnel.

    UK Merchant Seamen lost during WWII should, according to the rules, only be commemorated when they were lost as a direct result of enemy action or of increased war risk and importantly the loss is confirmed by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman. So we know that RACELAND was lost through enemy action but the important bit is if those Commonwealth seamen aboard were not confirmed as being lost by the Registrar General then they will likely not be commemorated by the CWGC and the burden of proof will be upon the researcher to prove, with evidence, that the individual seaman was aboard and died in the action or as a consequence of the action.
    RACELAND was not in the British registry and did not have a British official number which makes the search for records more difficult. I would suggest you would need to obtain the CRS 10 of the seamen as a starter in the absence of any crew agreement.

    Regards
    Hugh
     
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  3. Adam Brown

    Adam Brown Member

    Thanks Hugh, that's great information on some people already looking into this subject. The fact CWG recognised a Canadian crew member and the SNWM recognised a Scottish crewman gives me hope that the others not commemorated will also meet the criteria for inclusion in the databases.

    I've already been in contact with Jos who has provided me with much valuable information.

    I didn't want to post more information in my first post in case I had to post elsewhere. I've found this part of the forum: http://ww2talk.com/forums/forum/13-searching-for-someone-military-genealogy/

    Maybe it would be more appropriate to detail it there.

    Cheers

    Adam
     
  4. Adam Brown

    Adam Brown Member

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